Leap Before You Fall
by SkySoul
Summary: Two girls get quite the surprise after falling into a puddle. They get the chance to meet their favorite characters. This is a remake of my old story.
1. Puddles are still dangerous

Wow, sure has been a long wait. I've grown up quite a bit since you last read anything of mine. I'd like to think that I've become a better writer but it's not hard to beat my old scribbles. Back then, I was the same age as the characters so it was much easier for me to relate to them but we'll see how this goes.

And for the sake of my sanity, I will be removing some of the old characters that I introduced to you guys. These include: Greg, Amanda, Jessie, Kyler, and Andrew. Instead, I'm going to make up some new characters so I can do what I want with them more. It's just me and Joe again! We're not technically going to be us though. Gosh I hope none of you actually cared for any of us…

Without further ado, I'd like you to read my remake of an old favorite story of mine.

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><p>Bailey zipped up her bright orange backpack and swung it over her shoulder. School was over and she had to start on the latest chapter to her book. An irresistible idea had come to her mind in during her last period class and she couldn't wait to start typing it up.<p>

"Hurry up, will ya?" She said to her best friend who was still packing away her sketchbook.

Stella looked up from her gray shoulder bag and smiled at Bailey. It was always like this with them at the end the day. Bailey would be all packed up and Stella would still be trying to find her kneadable eraser.

While Bailey was a writer in her free time, Stella liked to draw. She had a very relaxed attitude about most things. Her room was a mess but that's how she liked it. She was the only one who was in it the most so it didn't matter to her. Bailey's room on the other hand was fairly neat. She was the more serious and studious of the two. Even so, they had been friends for many years.

"Stop being so impatient Lee. The bus leaves at the same time whether I hurry or not." Stella quickly went back to packing away all of her drawing supplies.

Bailey glared at her best friend, not because she was angry at her, but because she knew she was right. She turned to the window to see if the school buses had started leaving yet. They were still there with disorganized masses of students in front of some while others were boarding and fighting for their usual seats. She bit her lip at the sight.

"Stop biting your lip," Stella reminded her friend. "They'll crack again." She closed the top flap to her bag with a _snap. _

"Well gee Ella; if you could pack your stuff faster I wouldn't be so nervous!" Bailey flipped her long brown hair over her shoulders and turned to leave the now empty classroom. Stella followed her out the door and they hurried down the hallway to the exit. They chatted aimlessly about their ideas for their creative works and the events of the school day. As the girls rounded the corner to their bus stop they noticed that their fear had been realized and they had indeed missed the bus.

"That one wasn't our bus right?" Stella asked with slight panic in her voice.

"It's hard to say but I think it was," Bailey answered. She sighed and started walking down the sidewalk. This wasn't the first time this had happened. Since their school was so close to the downtown area, they could just take the city bus home but was an extra twenty minute walk that Bailey really didn't feel like doing.

"I'm sorry Lee!" Stella quickly followed after her. She didn't mind the walk as much but that was because her bag was much lighter than her friend's backpack.

Their walk took them passed many houses and even a cemetery. They wove through a few alleyways until they came across a rather large puddle that spanned the entire width of the alley. Puddles were not a rare thing at all where they lived. A clear autumn day such as this was quite rare however, even after the storm they had had the night before. Somehow, there wasn't even a chilly breeze as there normally was on an afternoon this time of year. The still waters of the puddle shone with such a clear reflection of the trees above that it was hard to tell just how deep it actually was.

"I think we need a bigger boat," Stella said.

"Should we turn around?"

"No, I think we'll be fine if we walk at the edges. It can't be that deep."

The girls walked to opposite edges of the puddle. They put their hands on the fences for support and stepped forward carefully.

Their shoes had barely touched the water when they were blinded by a bright light. Their hands slipped and they both fell forward. They braced for the impact but it didn't come.

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><p>Sasuke looked up at the cloudy sky and took a deep breath. Few things made him happy anymore but the smell of the clean air after a storm was one of those things. He wrapped his scarf tighter as the wind started to pick up again. He would never admit it but he hated to be cold.<p>

Continuing on his way to his afternoon solo training session in the woods, he picked up the pace. Naruto was getting too strong and he didn't like it one bit. There was no way that he was going to fall behind that hyperactive idiot.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sasuke turned and looked up only to see a human shaped figure fall. It was coming too fast for his body to move. Suddenly he was laying on the ground; a mess of long black hair was all over his face. A crushing weight fell on his torso and nearly squished his kunai and shuriken into his thigh. He spit the fruity smelling hair out of his mouth and saw a female figure laying on him. Using his elbow for leverage he flipped them over and pulled out a kunai. He held it close to the throat of his female assailant.

"Who are you and where are you from?" he growled. It couldn't be one of his fans; they had an unspoken rule of never touching him. It was the only thing smart that they ever came up with in his opinion.

"…Sasuke?" the girl asked quietly. She blinked and looked at him in disbelief. "Why are you here?"

"How do you know my name?" he glared at her.

"Who doesn't know you?" She smiled a suspiciously knowing smile at him.

"Answer my questions." His glare was growing colder. He pushed his kunai closer to her neck. Any closer and she was as good as dead.

"My name is Stella," the girl replied. "My friends call me Ella." She was being far too calm for his taste. First, it wasn't natural for a girl who was this close to him to not be freaking out. Second, he didn't like her attitude one bit.

"Will you get off of me?" She asked. "You're crushing me."

The nerve! Sasuke couldn't understand this girl at all. She falls from the sky and acts like- Wait a second… She fell from the sky… And there were no trees close enough for her to have jumped from. He backed off of her and put his kunai away. She sat up and brushed the dirt off her pants.

"So where are you from?" he asked again. His curiosity was really starting to get the better of him. Nothing about this girl made any sense to him. Even her name was strange.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you but I'll try to explain it quickly so try to keep up." She smiled at him again with that same smile he was really growing to dislike. "But first there's something I have to do…"

She leapt up from the ground and threw her arms around his neck. He fell backwards from the force but managed to stop the fall with his arms. She wasn't that heavy at all, but she moved too suddenly for him to stop her. After all, he was recently released from the hospital after that run in with his brother.

"What the heck is going on here?" A voice suddenly shrieked. Ella and Sasuke turned and saw a red and pink figure rushing towards them with something orange following it.

"Sakura wait up!" The orange figure skidded to a halt after seeing his companion stop dead in her tracks at the strange sight before them. Lo and behold, their usually reserved teammate in the arms of a strange female.

Sakura and Naruto stood there with a look of complete shock on their faces. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at the amusing sight. Ella let go of Sasuke's neck and backed away from him. She started laughing at the whole situation.

"Who is she?" Sakura demanded. "Why was she all over you?" She was furious. She had spent all these years trying to get Sasuke to fall in love with her and all of the sudden a new girl pops out of nowhere and has the gall to hug him? How dare that vulture!

"Because I love him."

Silence…

"You _**what**_?" Sakura screeched. Sasuke turned to look at Ella with a questioning gaze. Naruto started laughing.

"I love Sasuke Uchiha," Ella repeated slowly and clearly. "I also love Naruto Uzumaki. Is there something wrong with that?"

Now Sakura was confused. This strange girl wasn't making any sense. She must be crazy or sick or something…

"Hey wait a minute…" Naruto pondered aloud. "How do you know my name? We've never met. Unless… I'm so amazing that you've heard of me!"

"No, you're an idiot." Ella said bluntly. Naruto's face fell. Sasuke couldn't help but let out a small snicker. While he still wasn't fond of this new girl, he had to admit that she was rather amusing to watch. "If you don't mind, I was about to explain where I came from to Sasuke when you guys showed up. May I?"

She started to explain to them everything she was doing before meeting Sasuke. The more she explained to them, the more questions they had. She took each one carefully as to not confuse them more. All the while, she kept a smile on her face.

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><p>Hinata took her stance and began to focus. She took a deep breath. Kiba crouched down and prepared to strike. Akamaru was ready at his side. Shino stood nearby watching intently. He was ready to judge the sparring match between his teammates. He nodded to signal the start.<p>

"Byakugan!"

It was just a regular day for the three friends. After Kiba was done sparring with Hinata they were going to take a break and enjoy lunch together before Kiba was to spar with Shino. While the weather was getting colder, Shino needed a bit more time to warm up his bugs.

Hinata focused her byakugan trying to watch for an attack when she noticed something odd in the air. It was a female and she was falling fast.

"Shino, there's someone falling!" She shouted at her teammate. He nodded and sent his bugs up in the air. The body was caught by a large black cloud, but it was too cold for them to move fast enough to stop her completely. Kiba rushed towards her and broke her fall.

"Who is this?" Kiba asked aloud. "She doesn't look familiar."

"I-I don't know." Hinata couldn't understand where she had come from. Her chakra was very low. She hadn't fallen from the trees. Her body was not trained as a ninja and she wasn't even awake. Kiba placed her on the grass gently. Akamaru sniffed her suspiciously.

Suddenly, she began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

"Who are you?" Kiba asked.

"My name is Bailey." She turned to Akamaru and began to pet him. He happily complied and sat on her lap to enjoy the sudden attention. Everyone else relaxed at this. If there was ever something to trust, it was Akamaru's judgment.

"Where did you come from?"

"Far way Kiba," She answered. "So far away I never expected to meet you."

"How do you know my name?" He tensed up a bit at her answer. Her smell wasn't familiar at all so he knew that they had never met.

"It's a long story. We can probably get our answers if we find Sasuke. Is he still here?"

"What do you mean still here?" Now this girl was making no sense. Had Sasuke left for a mission or something?

"He's p-probably training r-right now." Hinata squeaked.

"Then can we go find him? The answers are probably following him around." Bailey chuckled a bit at the thought of her friend. Surely they were both here because of the same puddle. If this was true, she knew that Stella would have gone to find Sasuke to see if he was still around.

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><p>There you have it; the events of my original first chapter at about twice the length. It's been pretty crazy rewriting this as my old version is painfully hard to read. I'm so sorry that you guys read that… I can't read it without cringing.<p>

I bet you're wondering why the names have changed. That's because I didn't want to use real people. True, they're heavily based on Joe and I but there will be many differences between the old us and the new us. Stella and Bailey will be much closer to the real us. The old us were extreme parodies and weren't very likeable to me as I reread my story.

Whether you're an old reader or a new one, thanks for supporting me! Please review!


	2. Fear is like meeting an old friend

This chapter was a pain to write and I don't know why. It ended up being shorter than the last chapter when I finished so I added in that dialogue between our heroines and Team Eight. Hopefully the next few chapters will be easier to write.

I figured the easiest way to go about writing this story would be to stop caring if you guys review it or not. Of course, that is assuming that any of you care about this story. Either way, I will finish this story if it kills me. By the way, this story takes place before Sasuke leaves but after Tsunade becomes the Hokage. Without further ado, please enjoy chapter two.

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><p>When Sasuke awoke this morning, he expected a full day of training. Perhaps he would have a few girls giving him trouble, but not quite in the way that it turned out. No, what happened was even better. He finally got his answers. With this new girl having knowledge of his future, he could take advantage of the information and use it to become stronger. Soon he would exact his revenge on his brother… There was one catch though. He needed to get her to tell him everything and she didn't seem too willing. Although, she seemed to already be quite fond of him. Sooner or later, he would get his answers from her. Until then, he would just have to put up with her antics.<p>

Unfortunately for him, her antics were pretty crazy. She was under the impression that she had a friend somewhere and that the way to find her was to use that Inuzuka and his dog to sniff her out. Normally he wouldn't have agreed to come along on such a thing, but his curiosity was getting the best of him again and he needed to stay on her good side if he wanted information.

On the other hand, Naruto seemed pretty happy with the way things were going. He just found out that he was world famous! Surely the title of Hokage is within his reach now! There are dozens of volumes of his heroic acts after all! And if he really does get as strong as Ella made him sound like, he could do it before he gets old and marries Sakura.

Sakura was the least thrilled of the trio at the arrival of some crazy flying chick. There's no way that she was telling the truth. And why was she hugging Sasuke? The nerve of that girl to say that she loved him when they had never met before! Sakura didn't like it one bit. She was definitely going to have to keep an eye on her. The last thing she needed right now was another girl swooping in while Sasuke was emotionally vulnerable and steal his heart away.

Nevertheless, all four of them went back into town to find Ella's friend. During their walk Naruto kept asking Ella about his future and whether or not he was going to fulfill his dream. She replied with a firm voice each time that she wouldn't reveal their futures. Eventually Sakura got so annoyed with him that she just about snapped and punched him. This was turning out to be a horrible day for her and Naruto's irritating voice was giving her a headache.

Eventually they made it back into the village. Ella couldn't help but smile at the sight. She had dreamed of seeing the village before but she never expected to ever have the chance. However, she felt very out of place in her clothing and fell behind the others. While she was very happy to be there, she knew that she didn't belong and it was obvious.

Sakura noticed her smile slip. Part of her didn't want to care and part of her was curious. After thinking for a moment she decided that the best thing to do was to wait and see what would happen with this new girl. There was no way this girl could be planning anything funny. After all, it was impossible that a wimpy looking, untrained girl like this could take her on. Academy students could probably beat her in a fight with no trouble. The more Sakura thought about it the more she realized that she was better than her and had no reason to worry that Sasuke could choose Stella over her. To her it looked like Stella was a few noodles short of a full ramen bowl and had personal space issues. No guy would want that, least of all Sasuke.

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><p>"So you're saying that your friend is in love with Sasuke and they've never met?"<p>

"She's not in love with him. She just finds his personality interesting. I don't think she's even attracted to him."

"Well that's a first…"

Bailey laughed. She and Kiba were chatting as the four of them were walking back into town. As they walked past the shops Bailey tried to take note of landmarks. Since she had no idea how long she would be in the village, she figured that it would be best to learn where things are.

Meanwhile, Hinata and Shino were whispering quietly to each other. Hinata was unsure as to whether or not it was wise to escort the strange girl to find her friend that they had no proof existed. Shino assured her that she was no threat to them physically, but there was something about the words she spoke about their village that startled him. Bailey was clearly an outsider to the village; that much was evident from her clothing. Even so, she knew too much. Shino figured it best to keep an eye on her and alert the Hokage as soon as possible.

"Hey guys, I think I can smell Team 7 nearby." Kiba's voice broke Shino out of his thoughts. "But there is someone with them. It smells like a girl."

"That's Ella!" Bailey smiled. She started walking faster.

As Bailey and the others turned the corner, Stella looked up from the ground and saw her friend rushing toward her. She smiled and walked faster too until she saw Akamaru right there with Bailey. Ella froze before quickly jumping behind Naruto.

"Why did you have to bring Akamaru?" Ella shrieked. "What if he eats me?"

Bailey snickered a bit as she suddenly remembered her friend's "near-crippling" fear of dogs. Kiba was thoroughly confused. Akamaru was not going to eat anyone and he was positive that they hadn't even met before. Besides the typical sweet smell of girls, she didn't smell familiar at all. These girls were so weird, even by the usual girl standard.

"He won't hurt you Ella." Bailey sighed.

"You can't prove that!" Stella cowered further behind Naruto who was very confused.

Bailey turned to Kiba and explained to him that Stella had been terrified of dogs since before they had met. Kiba and Akamaru were quite surprised at the very thought of being afraid of dog. They were so loyal and fun! Everyone else didn't think too much of it; they were still more concerned about why two strange girls had fallen from the sky. After Kiba had promised Stella that she would be perfectly safe around Akamaru, she explained to him and his team what she knew about why she and Bailey fell from the sky.

"So you're saying that we're manga characters where you're from?" asked Kiba.

"Yes."

"T-that's so strange. I n-never thought it was p-possible…" Hinata mumbled.

"It may be impossible, but it seems to have happened anyway," Bailey replied.

"I'm really glad it happened!" Stella took Hinata's hands in her own and looked her straight in the eye. Hinata immediately started to blush. "If we hadn't have come here, I would have never been able to tell you that you're my favorite female character in the whole story. I always felt like I could relate to you the best. I really love you Hinata! You're just so cute!"

With that, Hinata nearly fainted. Shino rushed to her side to make sure that she didn't fall over from this sudden proclamation of love. Stella let go of her hands but continued to smile at her. Hinata did her best to calm down but she was worried about what Naruto would think of her now. Would he think that she liked girls?

"I really like you too Shino! I'm not very fond of bugs but you are a pretty cool person."

Shino was taken aback by this new statement. He had never been very popular because of his quiet nature and insect friends and even less popular with girls. These new girls weren't bothered by anything about him and there was something pleasantly surprising about it.

"Thanks."

"Wait, what about me?" Kiba interrupted. "I'm way cooler than Shino is! And I have some questions for you about that manga we're in."

Stella refused to answer any of his questions about his future as well. Bailey got him to stop asking by reminding him that he still had things to do and she and Stella were in need of answers themselves. From there it was agreed that the best thing to do was to tell the Hokage about Bailey and Stella. Team Eight said their goodbyes and went back to their training leaving Team Seven and the girls alone. Sakura walked in between Stella and Sasuke on the way to the Hokage until she realized how late in the day it was. She had promised her mother that she would be home early today for her father' birthday. She quickly said her goodbye to the rest of them (mostly to Sasuke) and threw a quick glare at Stella and Bailey before running home. The remaining four continued on their way; all the while, Naruto was asking more questions. The girls still refused to answer anything but it was evident that they were really starting to get annoyed with it.

"Can't you at least tell me if I'm going to get to be Hokage?" Naruto whined.

"For the last time Naruto," Bailey said between gritted teeth. "The story isn't finished yet. We have no idea what will happen when you're an adult."

"Now if you don't shut up I swear I will rip your arms off and strangle you with them." Stella smiled at Naruto and he suddenly felt very scared. He had no idea that such a normal looking girl could look that scary! Even Sakura didn't scare him as much when she was mad!

Sasuke secretly smiled at the others. While he knew it was a very empty threat, he couldn't help but find amusement in Naruto's reaction. These girls may be crazy people who think nothing of falling into a different world but they did make an interesting comedic duo.

Soon the four were outside the Hokage's office. The girls stood back in slight awe as the boys just walked right in. It was nothing that any of them had never seen before, but the girls never thought they would ever get to actually see it up close. They both were smiling and giggling as they followed the boys into the building.

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><p>I swear that I'm not trying to make Sakura into a villain. She just doesn't like Stella. I would like to remind all of you that she is only 12 years old at this point so it isn't unreasonable that she would get jealous of another girl swooping in and possibly trying to take her crush away from her. Also at this time, I would like to make it very clear to all of you that Stella and Sasuke will not end up together. I don't really want to open that can of worms and I'm not very confident in my skills as a romance author. They're also really young so not much can happen at this age. If you really want it, maybe there will be a kiss by the end of the story but don't count on it. Bailey won't be paired up with anyone because that's just not who she is, so don't ask for that. This story is an adventure before all else.<p>

That aside, from this point on the story will differ greatly from what I was originally going to do with Look Before You Leap. That story was going to be mostly crazy antics and messing with characters before taking a dark turn and having an epic battle before we went home. I did plan a sequel at one point which was just going to be Naruto in the real world and how he would adapt. He was going to be hidden in my room until we could find him a way back. That was the entire story I had ever come up with. Well, I did think of a few jokes but only some were actually funny.

So yeah, if you have anything to say to me, a review would be nice. It would also motivate me to write a little faster. You know, if you're interested.


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